In Cameroon, CPJ seeks untainted inquiry in Ngota death

We are alarmed by
investigations that appear to be flawed and marred with political interference
into the April 22 death in prison of journalist Germain Cyrille Ngota Ngota. We
hold Cameroon's
government responsible
for Ngota's death and the well-being of three other journalists in the custody
of the administration. We call on you to address these concerns, along with
allegations of torture of journalists bya security agency accountable to your office.

Mr. President, we
were heartened by an April
26 statement issued from your office stating that "with a concern of
objectivity and impartiality, the President of the Republic has wanted to
assign this case to a body independent of the Executive and its parties, namely
the judicial power, in view of the establishment of the truth."

However, the same statement asserted that Ngota's case
was "not a matter of restriction of freedom of the press but of submission of
every citizen to the rule of law." In fact, agents of the Cameroon intelligence agency DGRE
first arrested
Ngota--while he was receiving home medical care for high blood
pressure--with three
other journalists investigating a document that implicated presidential adviser
Laurent Esso in corruption. The administration has not addressed allegations
that DGRE agents used psychological and physical torture to force the
journalists to reveal sources for the document.

The president's statement further asserted that Ngota
died only of poor health and not because of poor medical care at Nkondengui
prison. However, in an interview
with weekly La Météo,Ngota's mother, Georgette Edima
Ngoulou, said her son had complained of being trampled while sleeping on the
floor of his cell and of exposure to rainwater. She said the prison warden
"categorically rejected" a written plea for his medical evacuation, which his
mother saidhad been endorsed by the
prison doctor.

We are troubled that
on April 28, the minister publicly disclosed
that Ngota had been tested positive for HIV and died from infections
arising from this condition--a claim refuted by Ngota's widow. Local
anti-AIDS activists and Cameroon's national
medical association have condemned the public disclosure of Ngota's HIV
status, raising concerns of violation of privacy and medical confidentiality
rights enshrined in Cameroonian laws and the U.N.
Programme on HIV/AIDS. The minister's statement was based on
an autopsy he said would be held "in the presence of independent personalities"
and Ngota's family, according to Agence
France-Presse. However, Ngota's younger brother, Bruno Ntede, and Félix
Cyriaque Ebolé Bola, a local journalist who was invited by the minister to
represent the independent press at the autopsy, said they were not present,
according to press reports.

Mr. President, you
tasked Cameroon's
judiciary with independently
investigating this matter. Yet, we are troubled that the integrity of the probe
may have already been compromised by a series of assertions from the
administration that are at odds with claims made by family and friends of
Ngota. In the interest
of transparency and safeguarding the integrity of any judicial investigations,
we call on your leadership to address these concerns, including allegations that
DGRE intelligence agents used physical and psychological torture to force four
journalists to reveal sources of the document at the basis of their arrests. We
finally ask that you release all journalists held in Cameroonian prisons.

Thank for your attention to these important matters. We
look forward to your response.